ground.” That there is a good deal of truth 
in this statement few can doubt, and we may 
find in it some explanation of the melancholy 
record which has been placed before us in the 
last number of the Agricultural Gazette. 
I should consider it to be little less than a 
slur upon those who derive their living from 
the land if the Agricultural Gazette ceased to 
exist for want of that support to which it is 
fairly entitled. 
I trust, Mr. Editor, that the appeal you 
have made will not be in vain, but that many 
will, like myself, use their best endeavors to 
prevent so disastrous a termination of a useful 
existence. *T. B. Lawes. 
Rothamsted, St. Alban’s. 
Ashes as a Fertilizer. —A ronsideration 
of all the points of interest growing out of the 
use of ashes os a fertilizer, says our contributor 
Mr. Stewart in the Times, would be very in¬ 
complete without a knowledge of the com¬ 
position of those kinds w hich are generally 
available. And this knowledge may not only 
help to explain some of the unexpected results 
of their use, but may also help to show the 
value of some other kinds of ashes than those 
in general use and nsually sought for. The 
following table gives the composition of the 
various kinds of ashes enumerated. 
manufacturers have anticipated the wants of 
all farmers and manufactui e different sizes, 
from hand sbellers of a capacity of 20 bushels 
per hour, to power shelters of 100 bushels per 
hour, with shaker attachment. Further in¬ 
formation will be given upon application to 
the manufacturers, G. b. b. 
These bees reminded me of the milking 
qualities of some strains of Short-horns, where 
a nurse cow has to be secured to keep the 
calf of the more noted animal from sheer 
starvation. At the same time I had the nurse 
bees. They were from the darkest lot of bees 
from an imported queen, that I ever saw. 
Each worker had the three hands, but the 
bands were not at all bright, nor was the 
queen far removed in color from a German 
queen. But judged by the fruits, these bees 
were good par excellence. A very a ble breeder 
of Louisiana is reported to have said of late 
that W'e must import to keep up the quality of 
our Jibes. Suppose our Short horn breeders 
should give all prominence to the fashionable 
red in selection in their breeding of Short¬ 
horns, how quickly would this magnificent 
breed of cattle deteriorate. The most famous 
strain—the Dutchess—are more commonly 
of other color; yet they are regarded as the 
most valuable, and each amimal sells for 
thousands. Our bee keepers may take a hint 
right here: Let color be made secondary; 
prolificness, activity, length of tongue, habit 
of breeding when there are no flowers; all 
these should be sought after with all skill and 
energy. If the bright color comes to supple¬ 
ment these more valuable traits, regard it as 
a lucky incident, and be sure to treasure such 
queens. What I wonl l urge is that the more 
valuable traits practically—not color—should 
be the aim of tho breeder. 
One word more about the imported Italians. 
Th“y are superior, not because the Italian 
breeders are superior in intelligence or in 
skill as breeders. As I understand ihe matter, 
the reverse is emphatically true. 1 believe we 
owe the superiority of the Italian bees to the 
hard conditions surrounding their native 
home. By surrounding mountains they are 
shut up in a small area of country; but by 
nature bees iucrease very rapidly. In Italy 
tho mild Winters do not, as do the severe ones 
with us, serve to check this rapidity of in¬ 
crease, so the numerous bees and limited 
pasturage make a severe struggle for suffic¬ 
ient stores to carry the bees from ono harvest 
to another imperative. Hence the vigorous, 
hardy, valuable bees will alone survive. The 
constant teudency of 6uch a state of things is 
to continue the present excellencies and de¬ 
velop greater ones In such conditions it 
were better to let nature work, unless the 
breeder had a very high ideal of excellence, 
and as great patience and persistence in 
striving to attain it. The very ignorance and 
indifference of the Italian breeders leave the 
matter with nature, and so the excellence of 
the Italian bees in tbeir native province of 
Liguria is maintained. 
So long as the “Dollar Queen” business, 
which means haste, want of painstaking, and 
carelessness in selection, prevails with us, and 
so long as the standard of our American 
breeders continues to be what it has been for 
the most part in the past, we shall surely be 
wise if we continue to import from Italy; or 
if, as seems likely the Syrian bees are 
superior, from the far-famed Galilee. 
Ag., College, Michigan. 
THE "PERFECTION” PRUNING 
SHEARS. 
Of the pruning shears hitherto in use those 
known as the Wiss’s are the most serviceable. 
When closed they are held in their place by a 
clasp over the ends of the handles and they 
may then be carried in the pocket without in- 
This table has been gathered from a number 
of sources and at the expenditure of much 
time and labor, and is well worth preservation 
for reference hereafter. It also deserves care¬ 
ful study and comparison, and the surprising 
differences in the values of the various kinds 
of ashes are worthy of note. 
Basswood ashes’ it will be seen, are three 
times richer in potash than those of birch and 
oak. Elm ashes are also exceptionally rich 
in potash. This fact is well-known to the 
potash-makers in the woods, who frequently 
find in the ashes of elm and basswood large 
pieces of solid crude potash which have been 
melted in the fires uxl have run together in a 
mass. This is never experienced witu other 
woods, and at a potasbery the ashtfe of these 
woods are held to be worth more than those of 
others. So, too. the general opinion as to the 
worthlessness of pine ashes is not sustained by 
facts, as these are not much inferior to hard¬ 
wood ashes. The inferiority of pine and 
other >-oft-wood ashes consists in the small 
quantity of ashes yielded rather than in the 
quality of the ashes themselves. But when 
one is purchasing ashes and can learn of what 
kinds of timber they have been made, he can 
apply them to his soil with better economy 
than if he is ignorant of their origin. 
A Plaster cast of Daniel Webster’s head 
has been sold five times in New York under as 
many different names, and it is now doing 
duty in a second-hand store to show off plug 
hats and swell neckties.—Detroit Free Press. 
The above reminds us of certain cuts published 
in our catalogues, stock journals, etc. . . . 
. . . When a Boston girl is presented with 
a bouquet, she says: “Oh, how decidedly 
sweet. Its fragrance impenetrates the entire 
atmosphere of the room,” A Kansas girl 
simply says : ,1 It smells scrumptious; thanks, 
Reuben.”—Denver Tribnne. 
An authority says : “ It may be regarded 'as 
an established fact that apples will keep better 
in moist or damp cellars than in dry ones." 
But that depends altogether on how many 
small boys there are in the familv. It isn’t so 
much in the humidity of the cellar as in the 
gorgeabilily of the hoy.—Quincy Modern 
( Argo.Decidedly out of place 
—A frog on a toad-stool.Spirit 
Level—The drink that lowers a man to the 
level of a brute.—Puck.Spring 
is close at hand. We caunot yet work the 
soil. But this need not interfere with the 
preparation of pea-brash, bean-poles, putting 
new handles in rakes, hoes, forks, etc,, making 
Bower trellises, supports for plants, raspberry 
and blackberry stake-, grape trellises, etc., as 
the Germantown Telegraph remarks. These 
should be all read}* to use when the time 
comes, without a moment's delay, and they 
will prove a great assistant in pushing things 
forward at a time when work is poshing the 
gardener.It is true, as Mr. 
Meehan remarks, that all fruit trees like a 
rather dry, rich soil. On a cold, clayey bot¬ 
tom, diseases are usually frequent. 
. . “ Live within your income,” shouts the 
philanthropist. That’s easy enough, old boy; 
it isn’t living within one that bothers a fellow 
half as much as living without one.—Elmira 
Telegram.. . The Burlington 
Huwkeye agrees with Prof. Beal that a fence- 
post will last just as long set “ top end up ” or 
“ top end down." In setting a hen, however, 
it suggests there is a vital importance in this 
distinction, which the careful poulterer will 
do wisely to observe. 
Perfection Pruning Shears.—Fig. 56. 
convenience. Pictures of the Wiss’s shears 
may be seen in almost any seedsman's cata¬ 
logue. The shears of which our engraving, 
Fig. 56, is an exact portrait, were sent to 
us for trial by Thorburn & Co., 15 John 
street, New York. It is a new invention and, 
as may be seen, combines the advantages of 
the Wiss’s shear with several improvements 
distinctly its own. The spring is more power¬ 
ful and enduring. The clasp to hold the 
handles together is near the blades and is 
readily worked by a movement of the fore¬ 
finger without changing the natural bold up¬ 
on the handles, such as one takes while using 
them. The engraving shows the shears but 
one half the true size. They are perhaps 
rather large for light, occasional work—but 
for steady work such as in pruuing extensive 
vineyards or blackberry plantations, they are 
precisely the implement needed, and we 
should suppose, owing to their great strength 
and the excellence of their make, that they 
would last for a life-time. There is one ot> 
jectiou to the ‘* Perfection Pruning Shears" as 
they are called, and only one that we have dis¬ 
covered in their use. It is that when the 
handles are closed, the points of the blades 
pass each other, thus presenting the points 
quite exposed to catch in the pocket, or 
possibly to prick the fingers, if unthinkingly 
brought into contact with them. 
3 mp l nriente, &.c 
CORNELL’S PATENT DOUBLE-TUBE 
CORN SHELLER. 
This sheller represented at Fig. 55, is made 
by Treman, Waterman & Co., Ithaca, N. Y., 
It has a capacity of 60 bushels per hour and 
the manufacturers claim it to be the only 
sheller made with spiral springs for the pres¬ 
sure bar, which enables the shelters to act 
Fig.—55. 
quickly and conform themselves more readily 
to the shape of tho ear, whether the large or 
small end goes in first. The machines are 
furnished with an iron hopper tvhich facilitates 
the feeding. They have taken first premiums 
at many State and local fa irs, including the 
(Centennial Exhibition at PhiiadelphiaT * The 
Mr. F. K. Phoenix, of Delavan, Wis., 
writes us as follows:—“May I say through 
your columns to Western horticulturists that 
in all my ex; erienee of 40 years in Western 
tree and fruitgrowing, I have never found any 
publications that in my judgment for the 
country west of Lake Michigan, would be¬ 
gin to compare in value with the two volumes 
of the i.owa Horticultural Society’s Transae- 
We have always looked upon the Agricul¬ 
tural Gazette of England, from which, as our 
readers ape .a ware, we have occasion to quote 
There are, In 1,0C0 
pounds of— 
Potash, pounds— 
LUne, pounds. 
Soda, pounds. 
Magnesia, pounds. 
Leached wood ashes. 
25 
15 245 
isT 
Hard wood ashes. 
100 
25 SI 4) 
50 
Soft wood ashes. 
60 
20 850 
60 
Tan hark ashes. 
56 
IS 283 
44 
Heat ashes. 
15 
8 10 
15 
Soft iwal ashes. 
5 
4 I 0 
32 
Hard oeal ashes . 
1 
1 0 
30 
Birch wood ashes. 
116 
58 | 600 
89 
Beech wood ashes. 
161 
34 564 
108 
Oak .ish<m. 
loti 
36 735 
48 
Elm ashes. . .. 
213 
137 478 
7? 
Baas wood ashes. 
358 
60 299 
43 
ApuU>vi»oti iishes. 
120 
16 700 
56 , 
Willow ashes... 
111 
.56 606 
101 
